Category Archives: Virtual Currency

Episode 177: We’re back! In Episode 177, fresh from hiatus, we try to summarize the most interesting cyber stories to break in August. Paul Rosenzweig kicks things off with the Shunning of Kaspersky. I argue that the most significant – though unsupported – claim about Kaspersky is Sen. Shaheen’s assertion that all of the company’s… Continue Reading

With Stewart on vacation, the blockchain takes over the podcast! In episode 121, Jason Weinstein and Alan Cohn talk all things bitcoin, blockchain, and distributed ledger technology, and interview Jamie Smith, Global Chief Communications Officer for the BitFury Group, one of the largest full-service blockchain technology companies. In the news roundup, Alan led off with… Continue Reading

Episode 118 digs deep into DARPA’s cybersecurity research program with our guest, Angelos Keromytis, associate professor at Columbia and Program Manager for the Information Innovation Office at DARPA. Angelos paints a rich picture of a future in which we automate attribution across networks and international boundaries and then fuse bits of attribution data as though… Continue Reading

Ransomware is the new black. In fact, it’s the new China. So says our guest for episode 116, Dmitri Alperovitch, the CTO and co-founder of CrowdStrike. Dmitri explains why ransomware is so attractive financially – and therefore likely to get much worse very fast. He and I also explore the implications and attribution of the… Continue Reading

Our guest for episode 114 is General Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and CIA; he also confirms that he personally wrote every word of his fine book, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror. In a sweeping interview, we cover everything from Jim Comey’s performance at the AG’s hospital… Continue Reading

In episode 109, we interview Perianne Boring of the Chamber of Digital Commerce on the regulatory challenges of bitcoin and the blockchain. In the news roundup, we bring back Apple v. FBI for what we hope will be one last round, as the San Bernardino magistrate voids her All Writs Act motion for mootness and… Continue Reading

Doing our best to avoid turning this into the Applelaw podcast, episode 105 begins with Maury Shenk unpacking the new US-EU Privacy Shield details. His take: more hassles for companies accused of noncompliance, more detailed privacy disclosures and compliance obligations for most members, and a modicum of pain for the intelligence community, but it’s still… Continue Reading

Anyone who has tried to explain bitcoin around their kitchen table knows that it is not easy to put your finger on what exactly the technology is. Because of their innovative nature, digital currencies don’t have obvious analogs or fit easily into existing categories. Bitcoin is part currency, part digital payment system, and part immutable… Continue Reading

Following the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, polls show that Americans identify terrorism—more than any other issue—as the most important problem facing the US. In this environment, some media outlets have predicted a pending “crackdown” on digital currencies, particularly by European governments, because of the risk that the technology could be used to fund… Continue Reading

CoinDesk, a leading source for bitcoin and FinTech news, published an op-ed by Jason Weinstein and Alan Cohn on “4 Trends That Will Shape Bitcoin Regulation in 2016.” The piece identifies emerging developments in the fast-changing world of digital currency regulation. Now that multiple federal agencies have outlined their regulatory mandates, expect increased ‘regulation by… Continue Reading

Our guest for episode 90 is Charlie Savage, New York Times reporter, talking about Power Wars, his monumental new book on the law and politics of terrorism in the Obama (and Bush) administrations. I pronounce it superb, deeply informative, and fairly unbiased, “for a New York Times reporter.” With that, the fat is in the… Continue Reading

This week featured interesting remarks from two of the most influential thought leaders in Bitcoin and the blockchain – Blythe Masters and Brian Forde. During SourceMedia’s Convene conference, Masters, the CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, observed that while we are in the early days of development for Bitcoin and the blockchain, similar to where we… Continue Reading

In an area that is growing and evolving as fast as FinTech, it’s often difficult to take a step back and take stock of where we are, and where we’re headed. So kudos to CoinDesk, which recently issued its State of Bitcoin report for the second quarter of 2015, its seventh such report since February… Continue Reading

In prior posts we’ve observed that the technology underlying Bitcoin – the “blockchain” – presents a world of possible applications unrelated to the use of Bitcoin as a currency. From securities settlement to remittances to asset transfer to the Internet of Things, the possibilities are endless, and some of the best and brightest minds in… Continue Reading

IAPP published my op-ed today on “Why Bitcoin is Good for Law Enforcement.” In it I discuss how with every advance in technology, criminals are early adopters, and law enforcement has to play catch-up. Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology are just the latest examples. But the blockchain actually provides significant benefits to law enforcement… Continue Reading

Our guest commentator for episode 74 is Catherine Lotrionte, a recognized expert on international cyberlaw and the associate director of the Institute for Law, Science and Global Security at Georgetown University. We dive deep on the United Nations Group of Government Experts, and the recent agreement of that group on a few basic norms for… Continue Reading

On Thursday, April 23, I spoke at the Bretton Woods Committee seminar, “Digital Payments and Currencies: Global Threat or Opportunity?” The panel discussed the changes digital currencies and payment systems have brought to the market and the disruptive potential of a future in which they may become more conventional. An audio clip of the seminar… Continue Reading

Privacy advocates are embracing a recent report recommending that the government require bulk data retention by carriers and perhaps web service providers, exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over data stored abroad, and expand reliance on classified judicial warrants. In what alternative universe is this true, you ask? No need to look far. That’s the state of the… Continue Reading

It’s only been about a week since New York’s outgoing Superintendent of Financial Services Ben Lawsky released the long-awaited “BitLicense” rules for digital currency businesses operating in New York, but it’s not too early to try to assess the potential impact of those rules on the development of Bitcoin-related businesses and emerging financial technologies. The… Continue Reading

Stewart Baker

Stewart served as the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security where he set cybersecurity policy, including inward investment reviews focused on network security. More

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Steptoe Cyberblog, with its sometimes contrasting insights, serves up opinionated and provocative thoughts on the issues — especially cybersecurity and privacy — that arise at the intersection of law, information technology, and security.

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